The Edo State Independent National Electoral Commissioner (INEC) Commissioner, Mr. Emmanuel Alex Hart, on Thursday sought the support of the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, in mobilising Edo people and residents to participate in the programmes of the electoral body in the state.

The new INEC commissioner in the state made the request during a courtesy visit to the governor in the Government House, Benin City.

“I am here to solicit your collaboration as an influential stakeholder to mobilise the entire citizenry of the state to participate and be more active in all the activities of the Commission, including Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR), collection of Permanent Voters' Cards (PVCs) among others," Hart said.

According to Hart, “the Commission in Edo State is still having in its custody a total 445, 301 PVCs from the 2011 to 2016 registration stock.

“Out of the 78, 398 new PVCs supplied to the state for 2017, only 9, 061 have been distributed, with 69, 337 PVCs yet to be collected, bringing the total number of registrants for the second quarter as at July 3, 2018 to 53, 271.

“The total transfer request for the second quarter as at July 3, 2018 is 5, 239, and the total transfer applications in 2017 till date is 18, 517. The total registration for 2017 till date is 184, 717, while the total number of uncollected PVCs (old and new) as at July 3, 2018 is 514, 638.

In his remark, the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, assured the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of his administration's readiness to support the electoral body in reducing the number of uncollected Permanent Voters' Cards (PVCs) in the state.

“We will assist you to do your work. I urge you to let us know and understand the scope of the challenges to enable us deal with the problem,” the governor said, adding that support would be extended to INEC in its voters’ education programme as well as the sensitisation on the collection of PVCs in the state.

“We will set up a response team that will work with your Information and Communication Technology (ICT) staff to carry out analysis of the areas with high incidence either at the ward or community level, so as to know where we can step-up action to locate those who are still residing in the locality for them to collect their PVCs,” Obaseki assured.